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Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic #9

Jul 2022
Anthony Oliveira, Ramon Bachs

Story Name:

Young Avengers: Parallax lost (part 5)


Synopsis

Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic #9 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
We see ex-Young Avenger Speed racing around New York delivering Kwikkee Burgers, accompanied by a voiceover that turns out not to be him. It's an old man with shattered memories who thinks he used to be movie star Martin Preston. But he had a would-be fatal car accident and the Devil saved him but made him an empty monster to be a gateway. The devil wanted the power of the Witch's children and lied about what they were. And somehow the babies were also Martin's hands. Then he recalls that he hid in the 'ruins' of the house where the babies were born in Cresskill, New Jersey and the grown children found him there. And Speed has been looking after him ever since.

Tommy Shepherd gets home and calls out for Master P. He finds the old man in the dining room where he's fallen and spilled some food. Tommy helps him upstairs and gives him a bath. MP calls him a demon, then apologises and they watch Preston's old movie Two-Gun Kid Meets Dracula. Tommy's boyfriend David Alleyne (Prodigy) comes to visit from Krakoa. He greets MP by his full super-id Master Pandemonium. The youths go upstairs and we learn that 'innocent' Martin doesn't realise they are a gay couple and wonders why they haven't got girlfriends.

After sex David asks Tommy if he thinks Master P is safe to be around. Speed says he's just confused, like he recently claimed to have fought Spider-Man but in San Francisco. Prodigy says his localised psychomimesis confirms that MP's mind is scattered but there are dangerous abilities buried in there. And he did bad things which maybe don't deserve to be forgiven. But Tommy just knows that they need each other, after a succession of foster parents dumped him and even his 'brother' Billy has moved to another galaxy (the Andromeda Galaxy where Billy Kaplan/Wiccan's husband Hulking rules the Kree/Skrull Alliance).

Meanwhile Martin Preston has heard someone outside and goes to investigate. He sees an apparition materialise (which readers of YA v2 will recognise as the mysterious being that dresses in the full-mask uniform of the Patriot (but not Eli Bradley who used that id earlier in YA history). And readers of this series will realise that he has the Parallax Stone with him. MP thinks it's Death, who the Devil saved him from, come to claim him at last. But Patriot's clipped words indicate that he isn't the target. However Master P won't let any harm come to his friend and he manifests his old power of turning his arms into demons which he sends to fight the apparition. They tear at him and he bleeds light until all that's left is the empty costume.

Preston finds the Stone on the ground and senses that *it* was responsible for Patriot. It came to Tommy for help but Martin says Tommy isn't the thing he was looking for at this time. But he's unsure whether he used to be it or will be in the future, but he's sure that Tommy can't be it alone. He sends the Stone on its way with the advice not to seek power but forgiveness.

Tommy comes out to see what was going on but Martin just says someone wanted directions. He persuades the bot to sit with him a while on the steps in the evening breeze. And his voiceover says they'll take care of each other until it's time for Tommy to go. But there's no rush.


 

Review / Commentaries


Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic #9 Review by (May 6, 2024)
The old man's voiceover is a jumbled version of the truth. West Coast Avengers #9 told us about Martin Preston's movie career and crash and being 'saved' by Mephisto. #15 added that Mephisto told him he had to search for his soul which had been split into 5 pieces. Master Pandemonium eventually kidnapped Scarlet Witch's 2 baby boys Tommy and Billy and in #52 claimed that they were 2 of the 5 bits of his soul, and *did* manifest therm as his hands. However we learned that the Devil lied and the 5 parts were actually missing bits of *himself*. Now that they were all assembled he claimed them for himself.

But last issue we saw that the 2 boys had a continued existence and now a few years older escaped from Mephisto with the (aid of the) Parallax Stone. We also know that they were somehow reborn in the past as Speed and Wiccan of the Young Avengers. And it is probably suggested by that issue that the time-travelling Parallax Stone made that happen.

Teen Speed and Wiccan then found the shattered villain hiding in the house where Scarlet Witch used to live in Young Avengers Presents #3. And we learn now that Speed has been looking after him there.

Tommy met David Alleyne in YA vol 2, and they started their relationship at the end of that series. Prodigy is a mutant and at this point lives on Krakoa with the rest of them.

Master Pandemonium seems to be living a double life because he's had many adventures since YAP#3. Including that it is true that he just fought (a) Spider-Man in San Francisco, but it was Superior Spider-Man (Dr Octopus) in SSM v2 #4-6.

MP used to have a demon familiar Azmodeus in the form of a giant red eagle. Now he has a red bird in a cage also named Azmodeus. Coincidence?

The Patriot being 'haunted' Prodigy and Speed in YA vol 2 but it was never clear what it wanted. Now this issue seems to suggest that the Parallax Stone was behind all those Patriot apps, without making it any clearer. But it does also suggest some future importance about the Speed/Wiccan duo. And it clearly terminates the Patriot's timeline.

Speed's previous app before this was the X-Men: The Trial Of Magneto mini-series. His next published apps are with other YAers in Alligator Loki Infinity Comic #13, with Wiccan and Hulkling in Love Unlimited Infinity Comic #25 and in LUIC#49 starring Captain America (Aaron Fischer). His latest app is a big role in the current Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver mini-series.

Prodigy was also in the XMTOM mini-series followed by XM Unlimited Infinity Comic #42 supporting Cypher. After this issue he'll rejoin the mutants for XM(2021)#19 before rejoining Speed in LUIC#49. Currently he's in the Dead X-Men mini-series as part of the Fall Of The House Of X event.

As mentioned Master Pandemonium's last app was SSM v2 #4-6. Since this issue he's been seen as a villain again in Avengers Unlimited Infinity Comic #35-36 with his old associate Lore (from the 1st Scarlet Witch mini-series).



> Marvel's Voices Infinity Comic comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
statue
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Ramon Bachs
Ramon Bachs
Michael Wiggam
Ramon Bachs (Cover Penciler)
Ramon Bachs (Cover Inker)
Ramon Bachs (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Ariana Maher.
Editor: Sarah Brunstad. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.


Master Pandemonium, Prodigy (David Alleyne), Speed (Thomas Shepherd).